The AM Roundup: Olympus Deal, Massey, More

The M&A work: Law firm Weil Gotshal & Manges and merger boutique Perella Weinberg Partners, both based in New York, advised Japanese camera maker Olympus on its February 2008 acquisition of British medical-device maker Gyrus Group.

The deal had been largely forgotten until it emerged this month that Olympus paid $687 million to other advisers on the $1.92 billion acquisition. Perella Weinberg was paid about $8 million in cash for its work on the deal. It’s unclear how much Weil was paid. WSJ

Massey: Monday marked the first day of trial of the first criminal proceeding stemming from the blast at Massey Energy Co.’s Upper Big Branch mine, the deadliest U.S. mining accident in four decades. WSJ

Wary of Sprint’s sharp elbows: U.S. District Judge Ellen Huvelle in Washington appeared skeptical about whether Sprint Nextel has a legal right to challenge AT&T’s proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile USA. Dow Jones

Spying, south of the border: American law enforcement agencies have significantly built up networks of Mexican informants that have allowed them to secretly infiltrate some of that country’s most powerful and dangerous criminal organizations, NYT reports in this A1 story.

More Alcoa: Not one but two men were arrested recently in connection with the British Serious Fraud Office probe into the aluminum maker’s activities in Bahrain. WSJ

ACLU Scores a point in Fourth Amendment case: A federal judge temporarily blocked a Florida law that requires government-assistance applicants to pass a drug test before receiving the benefits, saying it may violate the Constitution’s ban on unreasonable searches and seizures. AP

About Law Blog

The Law Blog covers the legal arena’s hot cases, emerging trends and big personalities. It’s brought to you by lead writer Jacob Gershman with contributions from across The Wall Street Journal’s staff. Jacob comes here after more than half a decade covering the bare-knuckle politics of New York State. His inside-the-room reporting left him steeped in legal and regulatory issues that continue to grab headlines.

Must Reads

Plaintiffs' lawyers dodged a bullet last year when the U.S. Supreme Court spared a quarter-century-old precedent that had served as the legal linchpin of the modern investor class-action case. Despite that win, a new report suggests that securities class actions have lost some of their firepower.

In a week in which images of Prophet Muhammad were connected to acts of terror and defiant expressions of freedom, a sculpture of the prophet of Islam inside the U.S. Supreme Court has drawn little notice.

The salacious allegations against Prince Andrew and Alan Dershowitz that surfaced in a federal lawsuit involving convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have generated international attention. Drawing less coverage is the lawsuit itself -- a case with the potential to expand the rights of crime victims during federal investigations.